Getting people into the industry.. this could be contentious!
You are subscribing to this magazine because you love food, dining out, cooking, enjoying wines etc. and dining out is especially something we want to keep enjoying BUT.. there is a small issue, there are more restaurants opening every day and less hospitality staff than ever to look after you.
With the dreaded B word there are less overseas staff coming here to work and recruiting homegrown staff just gets harder so what can be done.
Everyone is aware that hospitality wages are low, minimum wage is still the norm for everyone at general waiting level & it was traditional to pay commis chefs a salary based on minimum wages but with a 50-60 hour week and no overtime. That is changing, and from the top, with a shortage of chefs they are starting to demand a 40 hour week for all of their team and that’s ok, sometimes in our business that’s not possible on a very busy week but we always even ours out with extra days off when it’s quiet & shorter days in the winter. So what does that mean to you, well restaurant prices will have to rise but that will only have a positive effect on our industry.
With increased prices on the food, the front of house team can also be better paid, and that could just attract amazing people into the business, I love it when someone serves me who is really passionate about their restaurant/bar and they don’t own it. Allowing people to choose to be a restaurant manager knowing they could still apply for a mortgage if they do and not relying on tips to run the car etc.
I attended a careers event organised by the FSB in December, speed networking for Y10’s I spoke to 30 teenagers, amongst their plans, lawyers, pilots, one amazing boy who wanted to work as a carer, several for hair & beauty but not one chef/ hotel manager/restaurant manager amongst them.
Rant over…
Why do we eat out…& therefore what do we expect
Answers on a postcard or tweet please..but these are my reasons
1. Socialising with friends, without either of us working,
2. Enjoying being fed on our days off and trying those places we have spotted on Instagram/twitter etc..
3. Because we haven’t been near a supermarket for weeks, fed up with leftovers we took home from work and just say ‘Let’s eat out on the way home.’
4. Catching up with friends in their restaurants or we would never see them for months
For each of those we have a different expectation and how should restaurants handle those varying expectations,
For instance
1. I want a leisurely served meal, we are out for the night, have weeks or months to catch up on news and don’t want to be rushed or over bothered. I want to be looked after but in a very quiet way, and as long as I can get someone’s eye for another bottle and they have checked our meals are good a minute or two after (and not before we have had a chance to taste it) we have started eating I am happy. Of course here we choose somewhere one of has been to regularly so we can just relax knowing it should be good.
2. Now I want to be impressed, I have been drawn in by those amazing food shots, great reviews, I too want to leave with a huge smile. I want knowledgeable staff who make us feel welcome, offer us a drink as they sit us down and give us the menus, are passionate about the dishes, knowledgeable about the wines & beers etc. and just keep an eye on us, I don’t want to sit too long with a dirty plate in front of me and when we have completely finished I don’t want to find someone to pay the bill. Basically I want to be a bit spoilt!
3. Here it’s going to be short & sweet (I haven’t seen much of our home in weeks either) so efficient service, too tired to chat so we choose somewhere we know that’s fairly quick, friendly and we can eat and go
4. Happy to just have a leisurely meal toward the end of the service so our friends can sit and eat and share a bottle with us. We know the food is good but it’s not the main reason for being there but I don’ want to be ignored for the same reason.
The answer, the staff should be trained to ask relevant questions, and react accordingly. i.e. is this your first visit? Or I see you are a big table, are you celebrating anything? From that how do they react, a Yes to the first question..educate the new clients, if it’s not then welcome them back and tell them about anything new on the menu, a wine promotion, let them know their returning is valued. The second question if it’s just dinner with friends, then let them know you will keep an eye on the wine and water and look out for eye contact.. (which is my pet hate when I try desperately to catch someone s eye to no avail) and of course make sure you say goodbye when they leave, I am old fashioned enough to have hung around a door waiting for someone to open it & say goodbye..and then eventually given up!
If I say we just wanted to eat quickly on the way home, and I order something that will take a long time, tell me, I might change my order, I feel we all just want to be listened to and understood, is that fair? Again answers on a postcard etc..
Complaining..On the day or via Tripadvisor
We have all been there, whether it’s your first time or a regular and everything goes wrong.. what do you do ..
Having been on both sides of the reviews I think it’s really important to give the venue/business a chance to rectify the issue there and then, if they don’t and you feel that you were ill treated then everyone has a right to air their views but be fair and to the point. Those review stars are so important and to dip down when someone gave you one star because ‘It was hard to find’ or ‘I couldn’t get a table and we had driven all the way there’ mmm the joy of internet booking or even an old fashioned telephone call. We once had a 2 star review when we had just taken over the contract at Broome Park complaining about the fish & chips in the bar, which we didn’t serve so I replied to the review and he admitted it was from 3 years ago but he had been encouraged by Tripadvisor to earn his review badges. He kindly took it down and we were back up high again. I also love the ones where they say ‘amazing, amazing, amazing’ but only 4 stars because its new and it might not maintain this level, seriously !
We were out at a very fabulous pub on the beach somewhere in Kent on Monday, and trust me it’s hard to find good places on our day off, as it’s also usually the chefs day off too, but the food here has always been so good, and trust me , we can be picky! On Monday at the same table two separate diners complained about their food, one had ordered the Chowder, which we have enjoyed there on more than one occasion, ( we were sitting at the next table and do love people watching, so we had heard her already complaining to her companion) When as always , because it’s a good pub, they did a check back on the table they said it had too much cream & potato, the potato of course is the traditional way to thicken a chowder so therefore necessary to the dish, the diner commented that she knew there were different ways of thickening a dish and this wasn’t to her preference, they offered to replace the dish with anything on the menu but she declined the offer, and when presented with the bill they had deducted without fuss. When a dish isn’t to someone’s taste but they complain about the dish and you have to take that to the kitchen, trust me, you need a shield as you pass it on, but they handled it sublimely and I would be very annoyed if they put anything negative on Tripadvisor, google or anywhere else. Like the majority of diners I read reviews and can easily pick out the serial moaner, when 95% of the reviews are great and 5% are bad, I just ignore the 5% , unless they are all from the last month, then I will leave it a while.
The second diner ( new people) had ordered a well done ( sacrilege) steak & chips, looked great but on checking he said the steak was a little tough for him, they whisked it away and after again being offered anything on the menu he chose the Seabass special, now this I knew he would be happy with as that had been my choice and I had recommended it to him at the bar before he ordered the steak, Karma!
The seabass was served with beautiful hassleback potatoes, roast assorted beetroot & a sauce vierge, perfect crispy skin on fish, potatoes so soft on the inside and everyone who knows me is aware I would live on beetroot and it was just perfect, I know that he would have been happy but we left before the replacement meal arrived.
Graham had ordered the Quiche of the day and lots of salad ( pre trip home diet) which of course I tried and it was so very good, not your standard quiche and definitely 5 stars for both, have I written a review, no, why not because when you have a good meal and you walk away smiling, you get on with your day, a bad meal, you talk about it, write about it & with a really good story can entertain people for days. But I will do that review right now, because I should share the good stuff. And yes I have written some scathing reviews, especially on a hotel in Corfu..but that’s another story.
The Pop ups that met Art but are now firmly on the Farm
Some of you may have eaten at one of our Pop ups on the Farm in our production kitchen, this is under our Green Herring company, and I probably should explain the two identities.
Chives Catering was formed 21 years ago by my very lovely brother Steve Weaver after requests to cater at various weddings rather than our hotel, Waltham Court, we ran this together until 2008 and then we separated the business and I took over the original Chives, and in the very same year, a rather incredible chef named Graham Green came over to see my brother & well, we fell in love within the week and the rest is history, 3 months later he was here permanently leaving his multi award winning restaurant ‘The Green Herring’ which he had founded with Jane Herring 20 years earlier. He of course became our Head chef and my husband and a few years ago I felt he needed to have his name out there again so Green Herring Catering was formed and this is where he gets to play, it’s our private dining arm mainly looking after smaller or canapes events and of course dinner parties in your own home. The very first pop up was in 2014 during the Whitstable Biennale in our amazing friend Triona Holden’s Flying Pig studio in Whitstable. The idea started when Nathalie Banaigs of Kent Creative compared Graham’s food with being an artist so we thought, what better place than to enjoy his beautiful and stunning food but surrounded by art, it was of course a huge success and then followed partnerships with the Lilford galleries in Canterbury & Folkestone, Shane Record’s studio in Whitstable & Chappell Contemporary in Whitstable. The idea of looking at piece of art for 4 hours instead of wandering through briefly was a great success for the galleries too.
However after a pop up had to be diverted owing to a venue issue (none of the above) we realised we could move our production kitchen around and transform it to a restaurant and sadly for the art galleries that is now where the Pops on the Farm reside.
We are never able to hold as many as Graham would like to as they are so labour intensive as almost every dish is created for that one night, that we have to just decide to squeeze one in when we have a quietish week and few of those this year. But they are Graham’s chance not only to play but to be cooking in the same room as his guests, in the old Aussie days Graham could see his diners enjoying his food but with wedding and event catering he rarely even sees the guests so is totally reliant on our team & me passing on the feedback on the day and reading the lovely testimonials so it’s what makes the Pop ups special for him.
I love that our regular and new diners are just so willing to be our guinea pigs and try everything thrown at them, often they don’t want to see the canapes & set 5 course menu before arrival, and it’s great watching them enjoy a whole new experience whether it’s Kangaroo, Pigeon, Squid balls or Snails. Sometimes they just ask the main ingredients so that they can plan the wines they are bringing.
If you want to experience a Pop up just follow Graham on Instagram @grahamgreen7503 or on www.facebook.com/greenherringuk